Erco 415-C N1121J

Summary

On 9 March 2001 at about 23:45 local time, a Erco 415-C registered N1121J was involved in an accident near Ivins, Utah, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 March 2001 at 23:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Ivins, Utah, United States

Coordinates

37.1801, -113.7101

Aircraft

Erco 415-C

Registration

N1121J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hurricane → St. George

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN01LA065

Nobody was injured.

The unsuitable terrain on which to make a forced landing. A contributing factors was the carburetor icing conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot said there was an intermittent loss of engine power during cruise flight . He suspected carburetor icing "since the Stromberg carburetor, standard [equipment] on the Ercoupe 415C, is prone to icing," and he immediately applied carburetor heat. The carburetor air temperature gauge indicated 10 degrees C. The engine "continued a pattern of power off/power on/power off in cycles of 4 or 5 seconds." He left the carburetor heat on but soon realized that his rate of descent left insufficient altitude to arrive at the destination airport. He landed on rough desert terrain, extensively damaging both wings and the nose and left main landing gears. According to the Carburetor Icing Graph, a temperature of 12 degrees C. and a dew point of 4 degrees C. [as reported by the nearest weather observation station] could result in serious icing at glide power, and a temperature of 10 degrees C. (as reported by the pilot) could result in serious icing at cruise power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.